


Evening

by JenCforCarolina



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Multi, demiromantic Iona, maybe it'll go somewhere maybe not, sort of a buding relationship, we'll see
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 11:13:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7572025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenCforCarolina/pseuds/JenCforCarolina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iona needs a team more than she can admit.<br/><a href="">Find it on tumblr here</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	Evening

**Author's Note:**

  * For [That one person who said they really loved Iona](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=That+one+person+who+said+they+really+loved+Iona).



The showers were a place for those who remembered.

Ghosts have a way with germs, eliminating them as they eliminate all other nasty side effects of living, back to the blueprint of resurrection. Showers aren’t a particular necessity especially with those who die frequently, or transmat often. 

So the long row of showers -like a locker room with no lockers, no benches- was rarely full. Still, there were enough people that one or two of the stalls’ curtains would always be pulled closed. It was a usually silent, rarely shared event, the only sounds products of water and humanity. Sometimes humming, sometimes crying, most often just breathing. 

Iona remembered, just a bit, and only while she was here. The recycled water of the Reef had felt harder than this somehow, a drum upon her back. Sisters talking and shouting in the background, naked community. Here, even with the plastic curtain squished against the sides of the stall she felt exposed, until she turned the water on and drank up the luxury of the feeling until her mind numbed. Until the glaring silence got too loud and she turned off the water and left.

There were never any Exos in the showers, they had no need to be there.

\--

The cafeteria was a place for those who remembered. 

The Light was sustenance enough, here, beneath the Traveler, its greatest source. The kinetic flow of Light between Guardian and Ghost was all that was needed for survival. Out in the wilds, on Mars especially, rations would sometimes fill in the gaps, fill the space where Light should be when there was not quite enough to fill a body.

But here, food was little more than comfort, an event, something to pass the time. Iona often sat for dinner alone after her patrols, her shower. The frames kept food available in hot pots and pans. No one reprimanded you if you took more than your allotted portion. Though it faintly felt once someone had. The Guardians did not take up as much food as a nonguardian population of the same size would. Food was an extravagance for those who had the time, or the will. Most were busy and didn’t bother. Thus it was plentiful. 

Iona sat alone at a large table. Others were scattered about the room, never in groups more than three. She marveled over the waste of space that was the showers, the cafeteria. The resources could have gone other places. The tower could be a floor shorter. The water pumped to the City where people needed it more, the food given out to those living in the slums. But the Consensus had been insistent, she read, that Guardians be provided with all they needed. Those who spent centuries fighting for humanity deserved it. Iona wasn’t sure she agreed. The soldiers of the Reef were the same, and they lived in barracks with rations and timed showers and flourished. So she thought she remembered.

There were sometimes Exos in the cafeteria, sitting with teammates or friends to talk in low voices or keep silent company while their organics ate. They didn’t need to be there, but were present anyway.

\--

The dorms were for everyone, anyone who needed them.

They were haphazard, in a way, with different sizes in different places. Some were simple squares, some odd shapes. Some made for two or three, others for0 six. The Vanguard had asked when she logged at the tower if she wanted a room, what size she wanted, how far from other parts of the tower she wanted. Did she intend to live with anyone? Did she think she would need room for others? They told her she could change any time she needed, so to start she had taken a small room, a tad too long in one direction to be called a square. Close to the showers, closer to the cafeteria. Just a bed, a shelf. A light on the wall. There wasn’t much she had, or needed. She couldn’t remember having a room to herself. She thought she could remember not having one. Remembered a bed stacked above hers and more stretching to either side, community.

There was never an Exo in her room, until today.

The Warlock was standing there, in the middle of the room, rooted as though she hadn’t moved in a long time. She had her hands clasped in front of her and was looking at Iona’s helmet on the shelf. Iona kept it there out of a habit she could not remember. When the door opened the Warlock turned to look, unsurprised but jerky in a way. Her yellow eye lights blinked rapidly a few times and what looked like bubbles rose up the glowing fluorescent tubes that were the lights in her throat and cheeks. Iona had never seen her without her helmet, but recognized the robes, the posture. They had met only a couple days before.

“You remembered.” Iona said plainly.

“I-I’m sorry.” The Exo stuttered, something the Titan hadn’t remembered her doing before. “I didn’t come yesterday I had to think, I…” She trailed off and looked down, breaking their eye contact. “I have, kind of, a boyfriend. I’m sorry I was so forward, I flirt a lot it’s who I am. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong idea I really do like you but I’m committed and I don’t want to lead you on but I wasn’t sure how to tell you, I’m sorry I-“

“Delah, wasn’t it?” Iona interrupted. She stepped into her own room, and closed the door. “When I said I wanted to see you again I didn’t mean a relationship.”

The Exo looked confused, mouth open still as if holding back words and optics flicking in a cross over Iona’s face. “You didn’t?”

She shook her head, what was almost a smile on her lips. “It has been a long time since I worked with another as a team. That was all. It was… nice. You fought well. I wanted to go out with you again, as a team.”

Some of the anxiety seemed to drain from Delah’s frame. “I fought well? Even when I faltered?”

It was true, she had. When a Minotaur emerged from the timegate, Delah’s grip had tightened on her gun, her joints had locked, her firing had stopped. Iona, charged with the sun, had taken the cue and handled it without acknowledgement or a word. Yet here -she saw- was the time for caring.

“I didn’t even notice.” She replied. Delah’s lights shone a little brighter.

“You really do want to go out again? You want to take me as your partner?” Iona nodded, once, deeply.

“I do.”

The Exo’s mouth parted and she glanced away, a whir rising in her jaws. Iona was confused, a little worried for a moment, until she noticed Delah’s head and shoulders bobbing, and recognized the laughter for what it was. 

“I’m sorry.” Delah said. “It was an ironic placement of words I… I’ll dial it back, sorry.” She composed herself with a pleasant smile. But Iona felt her brow relax and her eyelids flutter. 

“Don’t.” She requested. “Keep being yourself, it’s amusing. It’s… nice.”

Delah bowed softly and her lights warmed. “Okay. Thank you.” Iona nodded in return.  
Her shoulders moved again, her torso tipping side to side like an impatient human. “I’d like to introduce you to Kamon.” The Exo said. “If you want to patrol with me, it’s more of with us. He’s my partner, we go out together most of the time. He’s more stoic than I, you’ll like him I think.”

“It would be a pleasure.” Iona agreed. Delah crossed the room to stand beside her at the door. Up close, the glass and bulbs of her optics were much clearer, a little brighter. She was also shorter than Iona by a good few inches. She glanced up guiltily.

“Sorry for barging in when you weren’t here, by the way. It’s nice to meet you again.” 

“Not a problem.” Iona assured her, stepping out of the way and further into her room. She picked up her helmet from the shelf. “I’ll meet you in the plaza in a few minutes. I feel underdressed.” 

A twinkle emerged in Delah’s lights. “I can’t watch?” She teased, pausing after as if waiting.  
Iona allowed her a chuckle. Her personality really was a bit endearing. Delah bounded happily out of the room, letting the door swing shut behind her.

Kestrel materialized on the shelf where her helmet sat a moment before, waiting for his Guardian to remove the loose clothes she wore over her undersuit. “Lost a good one there.” He pointed out. 

“Nah.” Iona shook her head. “Not lost. We’re still friends. Good enough.”

Iona’s armor began to materialize around her, plasteel emerging from translight to encase her legs,   
torso, arms.

The Ghost rose up to float at eye level and shrugged. Iona considered her helmet for a moment, but opted for the first time in a while to simply tuck it under her arm, rather than donning it. 

She tilted her head and made a posh face. “How do I look Kestrel?”

“Goodness it’s only taken a day and that Warlock is rubbing off on you already."  
She grinned at him. “Complaining?”

“You’re smiling. So no.” He jerked his upper parts towards the door. “Get going then. They’re waiting.”

Iona strode out of her room with a new lightness to her step. The plaza was a place for Guardians, and there were two Exos waiting for her there.


End file.
